Halfbreed Hummel, A Papa Bear Story
by Fearful Little Thing
Summary: AU in which Burt Hummel is literally a bear. When you're half-bear like Kurt Hummel not everything is easy, especially not getting a boyfriend. And that goes double for keeping him.
1. Chapter 1

**Notes**: Like the other bits and pieces in the Papa Bear 'verse, this snippet stands alone. This story takes place some time after season one of Glee.

**Summary**: When you're half-bear like Kurt Hummel not everything is easy, especially not getting a boyfriend. And that goes double for keeping him.

**What you need to know**:

Burt Hummel is literally a bear. His wife was human. Ergo, Kurt is half-bear.  
Bearglish is the spoken language of bears. Humans can understand it (mostly) but have a lot of trouble speaking it.

.

* * *

.

Up to this point in his life Kurt Hummel hadn't exactly had it easy. Not the easy that his life looked like from the outside anyway. Kurt was sixteen going on seventeen, fashion savvy, a cheerleader. He had a small group of real friends, the best and most brilliant bff in the world, and a family who accepted him for who he was without question. He was gay, he was out of the closet, and most of the bullying he'd suffered through was ignorable.

On the outside Kurt was the perfectly popular, confident gay youth. He was someone to look up to, someone you kind of wished you wanted to be. Someone that Sam wanted to be with.

Sam was new at McKinley. In fact, he was new in Lima. His mother had moved him to Lima after the divorce, gone back to live with a mother she hadn't spoken to in person since before Sam could remember. It was strange, going from a big city to a small town like this one. He'd expected it to be different, had expected to hate it and its tiny little mall and lack of pretty much anything to do.

Then on his first day at McKinley High he'd seen Kurt Hummel walking down the hall with his best friend and two things had happened. He had revised his idea of Lima being a hick town - because no hick town could tolerate a guy like that and not suffer some kind of meltdown. And he'd found himself in the middle of a tiny little gay freak-out.

It had taken him weeks to sort himself out. To figure out that yes, he liked Kurt Hummel. And yes, he was kind of ok with actually going out on a limb and asking him out. Because Sam was fairly smart, he had just made the football team, his grandparents were old money, and he was from a city with more than one shopping centre. All of which made him more than cool enough to date a guy like Kurt, who was moneyed up and fabulous.

He got up the courage to ask Kurt out on a Thursday, and it was also the first time he'd ever spoken to the other boy alone. "Hey," Sam had said, "you know we've never actually had the chance to talk one on one before. I'm Sam. Orchard."

"I know," Kurt replied, smiling at him, "Finn told me about you, you're the new player on the football team."

"I hear they suck," Sam joked, and took a step forward to bring himself right to the edge of Kurt's personal space, "so I can't mess up too badly... You're on the cheerleading team. You're really good, I saw you practicing the other day."

"Thanks." Kurt's smile got wider, and he raised a hand to nervously brush his hair away from his forehead. "The Cheerios have never sucked, by the way. So don't get any ideas about flattery."

"Do you want to go out with me?" Sam asked. He grinned when he realised he'd just blurted it out, not about to take it back or pretend like he hadn't meant it. Confidence was key, right? He wanted Kurt to think he was confident enough to handle him.

Kurt blinked for a moment. His cheeks turned pink. "Sure!" He said finally, and then reached out to straighten Sam's jacket collar. "You can pick me up tomorrow at eight. I'll give you my address." Kurt's fingers lingered against the fabric of Sam's jacket.

Sam took another step forward and, taking a change, leaned down for his very first kiss with a boy. It was strikingly similar to kissing a girl. Kurt had soft lips that were just a little sticky with some kind of gloss and tasted a little like cherry. Sam didn't know that it was Kurt's first kiss. He thought Kurt kept his lips closed because he wasn't the kind of boy who went fast, not because he was too surprised to do more than just stand there and let Sam kiss him.

Sam backed off a little, his lips sticky with Kurt's gloss. "So I'll see you tomorrow?"

Kurt was still blushing a little, but the way he fluttered his eyelashes was nothing short of flirtatious. "You could walk me to my car," he suggested. "Before we say goodbye for today."

On the short walk to Kurt's car Sam found out that the other boy lived just two streets over from his house, had loved music since forever, and preferred sushi to steak. Sam mentally scratched 'steakhouse' off the list of potential place to take Kurt on their date tomorrow and instead decided to see if there was actually a sushi bar in Lima.

.

* * *

.

"I have a date!" Kurt squealed as soon as he got in the door.

"With who?" Finn asked, poking his head out of the kitchen to look at his almost-stepbrother.

"With Sam!" Kurt exclaimed. "The new guy. The very cute new guy who is so totally into me that he kissed me and walked me to my car. I think we're going to get sushi." Kurt paused, looking thoughtful, and girlier (not that he'd ever tell him that) than Finn had ever seen him look before. "Does this mean we're dating? Do I have a boyfriend?"

"Sam?" Finn repeated, just a little bit surprised. "Ok. Uh... I guess it depends on how he acts tomorrow."

"You're right," Kurt agreed, and breezed through into the kitchen to pluck a bottle of mineral water from the fridge. "I shouldn't get ahead of myself." He took a deep, calming breath, uncapped the bottle of water, and nodded at Finn. "We can get to know each other a little better tomorrow, and then I can worry about semantics."

"Does he know about Burt?" Finn asked, hoping that came out more sensitive than when he thought it. Obviously, from the sharp look that Kurt shot his way, it hadn't. "I just mean, you know, your dad can be kind of protective. You should warn Sam in case he's standing outside and Burt's the one who opens the door. So he doesn't freak out over the protective dad act."

"Hm. You may be right about that." Kurt tapped a finger against his bottom lip. "I'll let him know tomorrow." He flashed Finn another smile. "Right now I have to call Mercedes and tell her the news!"

Finn watched his almost-brother scurry off to the basement. He frowned as he went back to making the sandwich he'd abandoned when Kurt came in. The truth was that Finn hadn't meant Burt's protective steak when he said Kurt should warn Sam. He'd meant that Sam should be warned about Burt in general. About Burt being a bear.

Finn wasn't stupid. Sam was a city-boy who came from old money. His opinions on bears were bound to be old fashioned. Before Finn got to know Burt he hadn't liked the idea of his mother dating a bear. Even if Sam himself was cool with Kurt's parentage no doubt his family would have some issues. Personally he thought Kurt should hold out for someone who already knew and didn't care about it. If only that someone, he thought to himself, would get off their ass and actually make a move.

If Sam wound up hurting Kurt because he was half-bear then Finn was going to kick Puck's ass.

.

* * *

.

Kurt showed up to the gleek table with Sam on his arm, both of them smiling and talking. They looked at ease with one another, perfectly confident on the outside while Finn knew, just knew, that Kurt would have been vibrating with nerves on the inside. This, he thought to himself as he watched Kurt introduce Sam to the table without batting an eyelid, is why he always wins at poker.

Puck on the other hand...

Puck was a thundercloud on Finn's right, crackling with electricity. Finn had to kick him under the table to get him to say a terse 'hi' when Kurt said his name. Puck always wore his emotions in plain view, so even if you didn't know what was wrong (and most of the table didn't) you knew he was pissed about something.

"Suck it up," Finn muttered under his breath, barely loud enough for his friend to hear. "That's what you get for being a chicken."

"Screw you, Hudson," Puck muttered back. Venomously. He then stood, loudly pushing his chair away from the table, and stomped off, scaring freshmen with nothing more than the look on his face.

Finn watched him go, then turned back to the rest of the table, shaking his head.

"Did you two have a fight?" Kurt asked, catching Finn's eye.

"No," Finn replied, though he knew it would mean a serious ass-kicking if Puck ever found out he'd said it, "it's just that time of the month, you know?"

Kurt pursed his lips, looked like he was about to say something else, then was promptly distracted by Sam asking a question. The smiling poker face showed up again, a mask of confidence that hid any possible insecurities or worries that Sam would back out at the last second. It seemed unlikely, Finn admitted grudgingly, Sam seemed like a nice guy.

"My dad can be kind of overprotective," Kurt stated, walking hand in hand with Sam to class. "But he's really just a big teddybear, so don't let him intimidate you if you see him tonight."

"I think I can handle your dad," Sam replied. He gave Kurt's hand a soft, reassuring squeeze. The father of a gay teen couldn't be any worse than the father of a teenage girl, and the worst Sam had ever faced was the father of a Catholic girl who'd threatened him with hellfire if he so much as laid a hand on his baby girl. After all, it's not as if Kurt could get pregnant... Though, to be honest, Sam wasn't even thinking about sex yet. It was one thing to admit to liking a guy, to wanting to date a guy. It was another thing entirely to admit you maybe wanted to sleep with him.

"Good," Kurt told him, and stood on tiptoes outside the classroom door to give him a peck on the cheek. "Because I don't' want you being scared off."

Kurt came home from school and went straight downstairs to the basement, where he immediately locked himself in the tiny bathroom and took a half hour long shower. He dried off, applied moisturising lotion to his skin, and shrugged into a fluffy white robe that belted around the waist. Matching slippers on his feet, he down at his desk and did homework – a necessary nuisance to avoid academic trouble - until his father got home at six-thirty, which was his cue to start getting ready for his date.

He went for elegant and hip rather than over the top, figuring it would be better for the both of them if he didn't aim to attract _too_ much attention on their first date.

Skinny jeans, sneakers, and a graphic tee. That was downright casual. He threw a dinner jacket on over the top for a bit of personal flair and spent the next few minutes fixing his hair. By the time he was done, and applying vanilla flavoured chapstick, he could hear the doorbell ring upstairs.

Not wanting to appear too eager, Kurt took his time finding his wallet and house keys before he trotted up the stairs. He got there just in time to see Sam backing away from the front door, wide eyed and staring at Kurt's father, who had obviously just opened the door.

"Sam?" Kurt asked, not sure what was going on but not putting it past his father to have pulled the 'get him home by eleven or else' speech that Kurt always saw being aired on sitcoms. "What's wrong?"

Sam didn't answer, just shook his head.

"Dad?" Kurt turned to his father.

'_Now don't get the wrong idea,_' Burt replied, with the same tone of voice he reserved for the uneducated few who thought bears had the volatile tempers that outdated cartoons painted them with. The soothing rumble reminded Kurt of being comforted during thunderstorms or tucked into bed. '_I only just opened the door_.'

"Sam?" Kurt tried again, squeezing past his father to get out the front door. "I told you, he's just a teddybear. Even Finn said –"

"Your dad is a bear." Sam blurted, eyes flicking back and forth from Kurt to his father. "You're half bear?"

"Well... yes." Kurt frowned. He was used to the reaction, even from some of the people on his father's side of the family. "Is that a problem? I thought you knew... Everyone knows."

Sam shook his head, and for just a moment Kurt thought that meant he knew he'd had an overreaction – that everything was fine, they could get on with their evening now. Then Sam turned tail and ran. Literally ran. He practically dove into his car, and was gone before Kurt could blink.

Devastated, humiliated, and never having expected that Sam would react that way, Kurt just stood in the doorway. He had to blink back tears when a large, warm paw gently landed on his shoulder. '_Come on_,' Burt suggested. '_Lets get you fixed up with a smoothie and one of those girly shows you like_.'

Kurt didn't protest. He let his father lead him to the living room and sat down on one of their very comfortable couches. A few minutes later he was shoeless, jacketless, leaning against his father's side with a fruit smoothie in front of him on the coffee table.

'_There will be other boys_,' Burt assured him, as awkwardly as only a heterosexual male can be.

"Yeah," Kurt agreed, leaning his head against his father's shoulder and taking comfort from the clean scent of Burt's fur. "But I liked this one."

Maybe he should have expected this. Should have stuck to his whole (semi-involuntary) plan of not dating until college, where it was supposedly easier to find boys who weren't racist jerks or stuck firmly in the closet. He should have expected that someone from Sam's background - white, southern, old money - would take one look at his dad and totally dismiss him. Kurt knew he didn't look half-bear. He looked totally human, even under close scrutiny. The parts of his physiognomy that came from his father's side were all things that could only be revealed by x-ray or very personal examination. He never spoke Bearglish because it made him sound ridiculously young when spoken with his already-unique voice. His diet was more varied than the average bear's, though he had an obvious preference for fresh food and especially fish.

Kurt sighed. He didn't want to become one of those people who lied about their parentage in order to fit in. He was proud of his father, he would never in a million years wish for Burt to be any different. He just wished everyone else could see it that way too.


	2. Chapter 2

The next day at school Kurt looked for Sam in the hallways. He tried not to make it obvious, tried not to look like anything was wrong, but Mercedes could tell straight off the bat that things had gone badly. Mind you, she'd already suspected that it hadn't worked out when Kurt hadn't immediately messaged her with the details. Kurt just shook his head when she asked, clammed up tighter than a steep trap and refused to say a word about his night. Instead he started a bright and cheerful discussion about the latest fall fashions and his theory about the law of burnt umber.

His false cheer lasted through their shared Chemistry class, through lunch, and right up until glee practice. At which point he was called out on it from an unexpected source.

"What the hell is your deal today, Hummel?" Puck demanded, interrupting Kurt's happy anecdote about shopping in Columbus. "You're chirpier than a Chihuahua on crack."

"There's nothing wrong," Kurt replied, with only a tiny quiver from his bottom lip. The flat-voiced, disbelieving "bullshit" from Puck was the last straw. He had seen Sam twice, and both times the other boy had turned and walked in the other direction. He even seemed to have skipped the one class they shared just to keep avoiding him. "Fine," Kurt snapped, feeling his eyes sting and digging furiously in his bag for a packet of tissues, "Sam doesn't like the fact that I'm half-bear, ok?"

He found the tissues and tore one out of the pack to dab under his eyes as Mercedes wrapped an arm around him. "Oh, honey... Did he cancel your date last night?"

"He won't talk to me," Kurt confessed, somehow managing to keep his voice from wobbling, "and now he's avoiding me. But that's fine. It's his choice if he wants to be a racist asshole."

Kurt found himself in the middle of a cluster of mothering females telling him all about how much Sam really sucked and how they knew he could do better. It was both depressing (because he had sort of liked Sam) and yet at the same time it was good to know that he had friends who cared enough to insult the other boy on his behalf.

The cluster didn't disband when Will Schuester entered the room, and the girls sat or stood close by for the remainder of practice. They acted like his own personal buffer against the world until practice was over and the club disbanded to make their way to their various homes. Kurt sighed and trudged to his car. He was just about to climb into the car when he realised that he'd left his scarf back in the choir room.

He shut the car door, hit the central locking, and breezed back into the school. He was half expecting the choir room to be locked, but when he entered the hallway the sound of an acoustic guitar strumming the melody line of Alice Cooper's 'You and Me' was coming from the open choir room door.

Kurt hesitated only a moment, not sure he wanted to interrupt someone's practice, then squared his shoulders and walked through the door. "I'm just here to get my scarf," he said to the room, walking straight for the chair he'd been sitting in earlier.

The soft strumming didn't stop, and a familiar male voice replied; "Yeah, I know. I saw it."

Kurt picked up his scarf and turned to go, stopped when the boy playing the guitar added; "Sam's a douche."

"Thank you," Kurt said dryly, glancing at the other boy, "Puck. For that marvellous moment of insight."

"Want me to set his car on fire?" Puck suggested, not looking up from the strings of his guitar and watching his fingers when he changed notes. "I know where the janitor keeps all the chemicals and stuff."

"Only you would consider fire an appropriate response to someone being stood up," Kurt rolled his eyes. He ran the fabric of his scarf through his fingers, feeling the thin, soft material. "No. Thank you. I don't need any felonies performed in my honour."

Kurt turned to leave, but stopped again when Puck stopped strumming the guitar and asked; "So do you have bear feet?"

"What?"

"Bear feet," Puck repeated, and shrugged. "You know, paw-shaped with claws?"

"No," Kurt answered, too shocked by the rudeness of the question to answer with anything more witty.

"What about a tail?"

"No!"

"Baculum?"

Mortified, Kurt flushed a sudden and violent shade of red. He was so embarrassed he didn't stop to wonder how exactly Puck knew the term. "Oh my God! That's none of your business!"

"So what's his problem?" Puck grumbled, apparently unaware of the violent blush that had alighted on Kurt's face. "Anyway, he'd be lucky to have you even if you did."

"Bears don't exactly have a good reputation in some places," Kurt replied stiffly, winding his scarf between his fingers a little tighter than he really should.

"Bears are fucking awesome." Puck emphasised the point with a short, loud three chords. He stopped the strings by slapping his hand against the flat of the guitar beneath the neck and looked at Kurt. "You're fucking awesome. You'd be awesome even if you were deformed and had a tail or sharp teeth or paws."

"Um..." Kurt wasn't entirely sure what the other boy was trying to get at. "Ok?"

"So I think we should get together some time."

"Excuse me?" Kurt blinked rapidly at the other boy, a pink flush across his cheeks as he wondered whether he hadn't accidentally stumbled into some bizarre alternate reality. One where Puck had maybe just asked him out. "Do you mean as friends?"

Puck shrugged, tapping his fingers idly against this guitar. He was staring at the floor intently, and when he finally managed to drag his eyes up to lock with Kurt's the pale boy's breath caught in his throat. "I mean," Puck told him, "a date. If you want. Because you're awesome, and I'm awesome, and together we'd be pretty fucking awesome."

Kurt was vaguely aware that he was twisting his scarf so tightly that it would need to be very carefully ironed to get all the wrinkles out. He stared at Puck, swallowed, and tried to find his voice. "You're serious? This isn't just some kind of awful joke, or a prank?"

The guitar was slung over one of Puck's shoulders, resting against his back with the strap crossed over his chest. He jumped up from the chair he'd been perched on and crossed the room, crowding into Kurt's personal space. It was shocking to realise that they were pretty much the exact same height, but somehow Puck always managed to make himself seem taller. It was the shoulders, Kurt decided, the broad shoulders and the air of 'I don't give a fuck'. This time he knew what was going to happen before the fact, but he was still surprised when the other boy's lips pressed against his.

Puck did not kiss like Sam did, Kurt noted. Puck had an air of intensity even with the pressure of his lips only soft and cautious. He didn't pull away quickly either; just kept kissing, stroking his fingers against Kurt's cheekbones and jaw until somehow Kurt's mouth was open and their tongues were touching.

"You have to meet my dad," Kurt informed him, a touch breathless, once the kiss was broken. "Before I go out with you, before we start dating if that's what you want to do."

"Dude," Puck stated, holding Kurt in place with just his gaze. "I'm prepared to meet your whole fuzzy family."

"Well you won't have to do that," Kurt said and laughed a little, feeling giddy. "My mother's side of the family practically disowned us after she died, and most of dad's family doesn't approve of his 'life choices'. You may have to meet Aunt Mildred, but only if you somehow manage to stick around until the annual family Christmas party. Which is really just the three of us. Plus Carole and Finn now I suppose..."

"You babble." Puck grinned.

"You're a jerk."

"I know how to shut you up."

Kurt saw it coming again and didn't protest. He just closed his eyes, parted his lips, and melted against Puck's chest. He wasn't aware that he'd dropped his scarf and slid his hands around the other boy until he bumped the guitar resting against Puck's back.

"Tomorrow's Saturday," Puck said afterwards. "I can come over in the morning to meet your dad, about ten."

"Ok," Kurt agreed, suddenly having forgotten all about being upset over Sam's surprise bigotry. Instead his mind was whirling with the issue of how he was going to explain to his dad that he had _another_ potential date in such a short time, and also the fact that Puck was very good at kissing.

.

* * *

.

Sam showed up on the Hummel's doorstep armed with internet research and a jar of 100% natural honey as a peace offering. It was just after lunch on Saturday, and he was pretty confident that the right kind of apology would let him sneak back into Kurt's good graces. After all, how was he supposed to know that bears mixed freely with the human population in a handful of smaller towns across the US? He came from the city, where bears were regarded as wildlife, not from a small town where Bearglish (which he hadn't even known was a language) was taught in grade school and it wasn't wholly uncommon for at least one bear to be found in each area code.

Sure he'd freaked out at first, but he thought that was pretty understandable. He'd shown up at his date's house and a bear in a trucker cap had answered the door. He hadn't understood a single growl because he'd never learned even the basics of Bearglish. What was he supposed to have done when he found out that Kurt was literally half-bear?

Sam had eventually calmed down enough to break out the google-fu and do some research. He had been shocked when the first relevant site he came across was a news article (that had clearly never made the front page) about the city of Lodz in Poland electing a bear to be Mayor, for the first time in the country's history. The article had been accompanied by a small photo of the bear in question, standing on two legs behind a podium and clearly speaking into a microphone.

Further research indicated that the largest population density of bears was, unsurprisingly, in Holland - which had granted bears full equal rights in the seventies, a full decade before the US had even allowed bears to vote.

So here he was, ringing the doorbell with one hand while holding a jar of very expensive honey in the other and hoping he didn't get kicked off the front step. He could hear footsteps coming towards the door, human-sounding footsteps, and took a deep breath.

The door swung inwards to reveal the person he wanted to see, Kurt, standing barefoot in the entryway. He did not look impressed to see Sam there. "What do you want?"

"I wanted to apologise," Sam explained earnestly. "I was just surprised. They don't teach kids about stuff like that in the city. I know I made an ass of myself and I'm sorry. I'd like to try again, if that's ok."

Kurt frowned at him and opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted by a call from further inside; "Is it the pizza guy?" There was a pause, a deeper rumble, and then a boy that Sam recognised from school rounded a corner. "Your dad says he doesn't smell anchovies."

Kurt rolled his eyes and shook his head. "Because Carole is out," he explained to Sam, who got the feeling he was missing something, "the boys deemed it perfectly acceptable to order pizza for lunch. I was outvoted, or we would be having salad."

Sam watched as the boy from school came up behind Kurt and wrapped an arm around his waist. "Want me to kick his ass?" he asked, practically purring the words right into Kurt's ear.

Kurt swatted him. "Puck. Please. He came to apologise."

"So?" Puck asked, clearly marking territory as he kissed the side of Kurt's neck.

"The least we can do is be civilised. And look, he brought honey."

"It's organic," Sam said, frowning at the other two boys. "So you're with him now?" he asked, looking at Puck.

"Yes," the reply was short, and somehow not diminished by the fact that Kurt shoved his elbow into Puck's stomach when the other boy's hands showed signs of wandering. "It would appear so. Unlike you," Kurt said, "Puck is surprisingly open minded, and has somehow actually managed to impress my father."

"I'm awesome," Puck added, smirking. "It's a true fact."

"You also have an ego," Kurt said, looking over his shoulder. "It's not very charming."

Sam backed up a step. He could see when he wasn't wanted. "Ok. So. I'll just go then."

"Hold on," Kurt stopped him. He stepped forward, and for a moment Sam almost imagined that he was going to get the 'we can be friends' speech. Then Kurt took the jar of honey from his hand. "I'll take that, thank you."

Two seconds later the front door was shut and Sam was left on his own outside to ponder just exactly how the education system in his old school had screwed him. Kurt was still gorgeous, still confident, still picture perfect and Sam's first crush that wasn't a girl. Only Kurt had moved on, leaving Sam to replay his damning freak-out over and over again as he trudged back to his car.

.

* * *

.

"It wasn't the pizza guy," Kurt informed Finn and his father as he and Puck re-entered the living room. There was a sports game of some sort playing on the TV, Kurt hadn't been paying attention to what it was - he'd been flicking through fashion magazines and paying attention only to the conversation going on around him.

"Why have you got a jar of honey?" Finn asked, frowning.

Kurt sat back down on the couch and tucked his legs up underneath himself. He unscrewed the lid to the jar while Puck took the seat next to him. "I was visited by the honey-fairy," Kurt replied. He dipped the tip of a finger into the honey and stuck it into his mouth.

'_That Sam came by_,' Burt growled, face still turned towards the TV.

"He came," Kurt nodded, licking honey from his bottom lip, "then he went."

"Sam's weasel-shit," Puck stated bluntly, and Burt whuffed in agreement.

Kurt just shook his head and went back to flicking through his magazines. A moment later something significant or other happened on screen and all three of his companions protested loudly, yelling (or growling) at the TV as if it would do any good. Kurt rolled his eyes. "Why on earth do I consistently find myself surrounded by cavemen?"

"Because we like you," Puck answered, leaning over to kiss his cheek. In full view of Kurt's father.

Kurt thought that was a pretty good answer.


End file.
